For Stockton-Con, success shows there's room to grow

As he sat waiting to bid on auction items on Sunday afternoon in the Spanos Center, the United Way's Andy Prokop was creating a list in his head of future venues for Stockton-Con.

Lori Gilbert

As he sat waiting to bid on auction items on Sunday afternoon in the Spanos Center, the United Way's Andy Prokop was creating a list in his head of future venues for Stockton-Con.

"Someplace bigger with enough free parking," Prokop said.

The day after the inaugural Stockton-Con, which drew a conservative estimate of 3,000 fans, the event's founder, Mike Millerick, was offering a no comment on future plans.

That was the exhaustion speaking. Or the euphoric hangover.

There's no way this event cannot continue to be a part of Stockton. It was too successful to be a one-and-done.

Millerick was hoping 500 would attend the event. Al's Comics on Pacific Avenue pre-sold almost 700 tickets. The initial order for 2,000 tickets - donated by Cathy Douma at Minuteman Press - had to be doubled before Sunday, because all 2,000 were gone.

"It was a completely humbling experience for me," Millerick said of the crowd.

From the time he stepped outside just before the doors opened at 10 a.m. Sunday and saw the line stretching out to Pershing Avenue to seeing the service truck two-thirds full of clothing bound for St. Mary's Dining Room, donated by Stockton-Con goers, Sunday was an emotional high.

A fan of pop culture and regular attendee of Sacramento-Con events as well as Comic-Con, the granddaddy of them all, Millerick conceived the idea as a way to help Stockton nonprofit groups, specifically St. Mary's Dining Room and the United Way, and have fun doing it.

Even for someone who isn't a devotee of the comic book world, Sunday's Stockton-Con proved to be a day of sheer entertainment.

It was the place to see the best Darth Vader costume ever made for someone not named David Prowse as well as Stormtroopers and a realistic looking and sounding R2-D2, compliments of the 501st Legion.

It's where Morrie Turner amused the crowd with his "Wee Pals" and other stories.

Rows and rows of comic books for sale brought back memories of childhood. The only comic book I ever bought - at our elementary school toy sale - was "The Archies," and there it was on a rack for sale.

It brought actress Kathy Garver to town within a week of her guest-starring role in "The Big Valley," airing on the Inspirational Television Network. Garver, best known as Cissy in "Family Affair" and now known for her voiceover work in "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends," said she's been coming to Stockton for five years to participate in the Eddie Guardado-Dave Oliver fundraising bowling event. But, since "The Big Valley" was set in Stockton, her ties to our town go back to the 1960s.

It provided local artists an opportunity to share their talent, invited to create a piece with their interpretation of the Fantastic Four's Stockton ties. Second place in the contest went to 19-year-old Victoria Davila, a graphic art student at Delta College who worked in Burns Tower, the Empire Theatre and the downtown cineplex.

Attending her first comic convention, Davila came in costume, carrying Captain America's shield.

"My cousin wanted to go see the movie 'Captain America,' and I thought it would be boring, but at the last minute I decided to go,' Davila said. "I loved it. It was amazing."

She wasn't alone in attending in the costume of her favorite character. A Captain Jack Sparrow and Indiana Jones were present, along with The Invisible Man, among others.

Millerick, the sports information director at Pacific, and the rest of the athletic department have wondered for years what it would take to get folks to fill the Spanos Center. The volleyball team, when it was winning two NCAA championships, came close on a few occasions, but even when the basketball team was reaching the NCAA tournament three years in a row, it didn't sell out.

Local sports heroes, it turns out, don't have quite the same drawing power as superheroes.

It's so great, in fact, the Spanos Center can't contain them. They have too much appeal to be confined to the venerable building and to not make return visits in the future.